Every day, significant numbers of patients fail to take their medication as directed. Such non-compliance with prescription regimens can result in reduced efficacy of treatments, increased hospitalizations, and even death. Various approaches for promoting compliance have been developed, yet these approaches can fail in several ways.
For example, day-of-the-week or other pillbox organizers frequently require a user to transfer pills from an original container from a pharmacy into alternate containers that will be utilized to help the user remember when to take the pills. This process may introduce opportunities for error. Additionally, the extra burden of this process may become a potential promoter of non-compliance, especially for patients that lack the discipline or mental faculties to consistently complete the sorting and replenishing tasks.
With alarm or notification reminder systems, a patient who is not able to hear or see the notification will simply not be reminded, resulting in inadvertent non-compliance. Furthermore, alarms such as on wristwatches or phone applications may be easily turned off without actually prompting the patient to take the medication.